Haka and taonga puoro will meet didgeridoo and bagpipes in a unique fusion of indigenous pride that will be showcased at Glasgow’s Festival 2014 in July, during the XX Commonwealth Games.

Haka and taonga puoro will meet didgeridoo and bagpipes in a unique fusion of indigenous pride that will be showcased at Glasgow’s Festival 2014 in July, during the XX Commonwealth Games.

New Zealand performers Moana & The Tribe and taonga puoro exponent Horomona Horo are part of the tri-nation Boomerang Project of Maori, indigenous Australian and Scottish performers who will stage four concerts during the Festival.

“There are 21 musicians, singers, haka performers and dancers onstage,” says Moana Maniapoto. “It’s the biggest band I’ve ever been in.”

She describes the Boomerang Project as a cultural and musical feast. “At times it’s loud, extremely proud and feathers do fly. But there are quiet moments when it’s not just the audience that gets emotional listening to the lyrics or stories behind songs.”

The Boomerang Project began last year and is led by a producer from each of the three countries. New Zealand producer Emere Wano said the collaboration was born out a desire for the artists to explore the similarities between Gaelic, Aboriginal and Maori cultures.

Scottish band Breabach together with indigenous Australian singers Shellie Morris and Casey Donovan spent a week in January at Muriwai Beach with the New Zealand contingent during which they shared stories, songs and even wrote new music. The Boomerang Project had its debut at WOMAD New Zealand in New Plymouth in March, and has since played at the Sydney Opera House for Homeground.

“The premiere on the mainstage at WOMAD was fantastic,” Emere said. “Weaving together the music and performance of the three cultures, with Moana’s band backing the Aboriginal musicians and bagpipes melding with Horomona on taonga puoro; it was completely spine-tingling. We’re very excited about taking this to Scotland next month.”

While it was a challenge to bring all the musicians together, Moana described the creative process as relatively painless.

“Each of us is fascinated by fusion; combining traditional with contemporary; and singing in English and in indigenous languages. For all of us, our culture informs our songwriting. When it comes to performing, we have Megan from Breabach on fiddle, her bandmates on their flutes are dancing around Horomona’s koauau and songman Djakapurra (Australia) chants up a storm. All of us have learnt songs in each others’ languages. It’s a real celebration.”

Moana talks about Scotty Morrison’s contribution to the production. “Breabach were keen to perform Proud to Play a Pipe which was composed 300 years ago when pipes and Gaelic language were banned in Scotland. Scotty wrote a new haka to insert into the music. I tell you, when those bagpipes are blasting, the band kicks in and Kemara, Laurence and Horomona are flying into the haka, it feels like a call to arms!”

Horomona Horo said the Boomerang Project was inspiring and highlighted the similarities of the three cultures.

“It challenged us to think about how we, as indigenous peoples, can hold strong to our culture in an ever-changing society.”

Horomona said playing taonga puoro in Glasgow will be a special experience. “These are instruments and music that not a lot of people know about. People may have heard the purerehua or the conch played at rugby games, but not many people have heard the many more melodic instruments. Interweaving these with the instruments, songs and performances by Breabach and the Aboriginal performers is just magical.”

The Boomerang Project will perform for the first time in Scotland on Thursday 17 July at the Hebridean Celtic Festival on the Isle of Lewis, followed by a performance as part of the Queens Baton Relay in Glasgow on Tuesday 22 July, a VIP performance at Scotland House as part of the entertainment on the day of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, and finally on Thursday 24 July at an open air concert at Glasgow Green.
 
The Boomerang Project is supported by Glasgow Life, Creative Scotland, Creative New Zealand, and the Australia Council.

Moana & The Tribe
Moana & the Tribe stand out as one of the most significant voices in Maori music. Their politically conscious grooves and distinctive Maori sound have taken them to some of the most exotic locations in the world. Highlights include a performance in St Marks Square during the Venice Biennale, in front of heads of state at the Shanghai World Expo and at the UN Conference on Biodiversity (Cologne). They have toured across Canada and Taiwan, sung at the famous Rainforest World Music Festival (Sarawak), traveled twice into the Arctic Circle, hit the party stage at the Jarasum International Jazz Festival (Seoul), played clubs in Istanbul, Berlin and Moscow and countless festival stages throughout Europe.

In 2013 they kicked off a seven-week tour before a record crowd at Riddu Riddu (Norway) where Sami superstar Mari Boine made a surprise guest appearance with the band. Highlights of 2013 included Sziget in Budapest, the biggest festival in Europe, and a sell-out performance in Warsaw.

With drummer Mickey Ututaonga, bassplayer Marika Hodgson, electronica guru Paddy Free fattening up the rhythm section, the band deliver an edgier, more energetic sound to the soul-haka fusion of both their new songs and classics.

In October 2014, the band will release their new album RIMA which will feature a Boomerang inspired composition Water People.
 
Horomona Horo
Composer, practitioner and cross genre collaborator, Horomona Horo has fused the traditional instruments of the Maori, taonga puoro (singing treasures), within a diverse range of cultural and musical forms.

Mentored by tohunga (experts) of taonga puoro, the late Dr Hirini Melbourne and Richard Nunns, in 2001, Horo won the inaugural Dynasty Heritage Concerto Competition and in the intervening years has become the international Maori face of taonga puoro.

Performances including orchestral work with the Weimarer Staatskapelle Orchestra, hip-hop with Pao Pao Pao, Opera in the Park with Kiri Te Kanawa, guest artist at the 90th Commemorations of the Battle of Passchendaele, and international tours with Moana & the Tribe, Canti Maori, Irish collaboration – Green Fire Islands and the Voices NZ Choir have enabled Horomona to extend his knowledge and skills across diverse genres whilst remaining a cultural and musical educator in his own right. A skilled vocalist, linguist and haka performer, Horomona is a popular and exceptional talent who is in constant demand.
 
Producer: Emere Wano
Emere Wano is director of Tihi Ltd, which produces and manages events and arts programmes in New Zealand. In 2010 she created Sounds Aotearoa, a music event that promotes music to producers. Sounds Aotearoa also develops artist skills and resources through its seminar and workshop programme and grows networks through its one-on-one meetings.

“We are always looking to collaborate with partners internationally to co-present New Zealand Maori performance and music with other cultures.” Emere is the NZ producer who teamed up with producer Rhoda Roberts (Australia) and Lisa Whytock (Scotland) to create the tri-nation indigenous collaboration Boomerang Project. She has also recently been appointed as the Artistic Director for WOMAD New Zealand after being associated with WOMAD New Zealand since 2003 in a variety of roles.

Emere has worked with the New Zealand Arts Festival since 2004 as a cultural programme advisor and in 2009 was festival director for the Te Matatini National Kapa Haka Festival, New Zealand’s premier showcase event for Maori performing arts.

Media Release: SWPR